Conservationists Propose 400 Jobs on Biscuit Fire Restoration

CAVE JUNCTION, Oregon, May 18, 2004 (ENS) - A plan to create 400 new jobs in the Siskiyou Wild Rivers Area through a combination of watershed restoration efforts and commercial logging activities was unveiled by conservation groups Monday. Radio ads promoting the plan will air across western Oregon for the next two weeks.

The Siskiyou Restoration Plan will focus on over 500 miles of road restoration on steep slopes and areas vulnerable to landslides. The plan includes commercial logging, but stays out of roadless areas, old growth reserves, Wild and Scenic River corridors and sensitive botanical areas.

The plan covers land burned by the 2002 Biscuit Fire and is offered as an alternative to a plan by the U.S. Forest Service that is opposed by conservation groups.

The Forest Service proposal, which overrode the agency's own scientific team's recommendation, was heavily criticized by outside scientists and other government agencies.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said the Forest Service proposal would have significant impacts on water quality, fish habitat, Wild and Scenic Rivers, and roadless areas.

University of Washington forester Dr. Jerry Franklin said the Forest Service proposal to allow post-fire logging in mature and old growth forest reserves is "inappropriate" and contrary to the goal of creating old growth habitat.

A detailed analysis prepared by the Pacific Rivers Council with the watershed consultation firm Pacific Watershed Associates calculates that as many as 437 new jobs will be created through watershed restoration efforts in the Siskiyous.

"We were happy to help with the initial analysis and budget for this proposal. We see an opportunity to do good restoration work in the Siskiyous," said Bill Weaver, a partner with Pacific Watershed Associates. "We can restore watersheds while pumping millions of dollars into the local economy in southern Oregon."

"Local jobs can and should be created to restore the Siskiyous Wild Rivers Area after the 2002 Biscuit Fire," said David Bayles, executive director of the Pacific Rivers Council. "Watershed restoration after fires is good for the environment and good for the local economy."

Conservation groups are offering the plan as a proactive solution to move forward with management activities in the Siskiyou National Forest this summer.

"There can and will be jobs in southern Oregon this summer if the Bush administration does what's best for the Siskiyou Wild Rivers Area and moves ahead with watershed restoration work," said Don Smith, executive director of the Siskiyou Project, a conservation group in Cave Junction, Oregon. "At the same time there's room for logging, which can be done in a way that minimizes risks to salmon, water quality and old growth forests."

"The heavy handed logging approach currently offered by the Bush administration for this area will actually do more harm than good," said Smith. "Even the Forest Service admits that it will not create new jobs, but only move jobs around in the region."

"Our plan will actually create new jobs," said Smith. "And it will not harm the environment the way the Bush administration proposal will."

The conservationists' Siskiyou Restoration Plan "has merit," said Wayne Minshall, professor of Stream Ecology at Idaho State University. Minshall is an expert on post-fire ecosystems and the effects that fire has on rivers and streams.

"The rivers and streams of the Siskiyou are especially vulnerable to erosion," said Minshall. "The Siskiyou Restoration Plan will directly address that problem while minimizing additional erosion caused by post-fire logging."

The Biscuit Fire, located in southern Oregon and northern California, began on July 13, 2002 and reached 499,965 acres. Estimated to be one of Oregon's largest in recorded history, the Biscuit Fire encompassed most of the Kalmiopsis Wilderness. The boundary of the Biscuit Fire stretches from 10 miles east of the coastal community of Brookings, Oregon; south into northern California; east to the Illinois Valley; and north to within a few miles of the Rogue River.

Go to: http://www.siskiyourestoration.info for details of the Siskiyou Restoration Plan, facts about Pacific Watershed Associates, FAQ sheet, chronology of events on the Biscuit Fire, and a list of organizations supporting the Siskiyou Restoration Plan.

See the U.S. Forest Service plan for salvage logging of the Biscuit Fire area at: http://www.biscuitfire.com/